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All that Moola: The History of “Bucks” and Other Words We Use to Mean Money

October 23rd, 2014 No comments

Last week, my wife and I went to our favorite pizza place.  When we were finished eating, the waiter brought us the check.  I didn’t have the correct change.  So I quickly figured the tip in my head, gave him two larger bills, and said to him, “Just bring me back five dollars, and I’ll be happy.”  He replied, “Okay, I’ll bring you back five bucks.” 

His referring to five dollars as five “bucks” caught my attention.  When growing up in southern Missouri, “bucks” was a very common term used for “dollars,” but having lived in the St. Louis area for the last twenty years, it had been some time since I had heard “bucks” used in this way. 

This caused me to wonder how bucks came about to mean dollars and, for that matter, what about other terms often used to refer to money such as “grand,” “dough,” “lettuce,” “bacon,” “sawbuck,” “scratch,” and “stash,” to mention a few.  So for the third week in a row I am writing about money. Read more…